Tearful Jimmy Kimmel Bashes ‘Cecil The Lion’ Killer

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On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the comedy host gave an emotional reaction to the death of a beloved African lion, “Cecil,” who authorities say was illegally poached by Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist.

“Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things?” Kimmel jokingly asked trying to lift the somber mood of the story.

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He continued to shame the man, “If you’re some a**hole dentist who wants a lion’s head over the fireplace in his man cave so his douchebag buddies can gather around it and drink Scotch and tell him how awesome he is, that’s just vomitous.”

The story clearly affected Kimmel, who, with tears in his eyes, then urged the audience and viewers at home that instead of directing hate toward Palmer, they should help prevent this from ever happening again by donating to the Oxford University preservation group that was researching the lion prides from which Cecil was a part.

Still, the backlash against Palmer has been severe.

He’s reportedly been in hiding since the story began to gather attention. His Bloomington, Minn., dental clinic has been closed for days.

Protestors however began a makeshift memorial for Cecil by leaving a pile of stuffed-animals at the door.

Palmer is accused of killing Cecil by illegally luring the animal out of a protected conservation zone with bait and then using a bow and arrow to “hunt” the animal. However, Palmer did not kill Cecil with the arrow and he and his guides tracked the animal for 40 hours before catching up with it. Palmer then reportedly used a rifle to kill the lion, before beheading it and taking the skin.

Cecil was part of a Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Hwange National Park lead by experts at Oxford University. They were able to find Cecil’s body through the tracking collar Cecil had been tagged with that Palmer reportedly tried to remove and destroy after he discovered he’d killed a protected animal.

Online petitions have sprung up gathering over 400,000 signatures calling on African leaders to once and for all ban trophy hunting.